Solidarity in the UK with Iran Liberty in support of Ashraf and Liberty

The Iranian regime
and its opponents
The mullahs’ regime has enchained
the Iranian people for more than
3 decades through suppression,
torture and execution. More than
120,000 have been executed to date
for opposing the regime. The regime
is a global threat with its export of
fundamentalism and attempts to
obtain a nuclear bomb.
Iran Liberty Association was formed
to save the lives of the opponents
of the mullahs’ regime inside and
outside Iran and to support the
establishment of democracy in a free
Iran.
Our aims
Our current goal is to protect the
residents of Camp Liberty, Iraq,
who were formerly in Camp Ashraf
and who have previously faced two
brutal attacks by Iraqi forces at the
behest of the Iranian regime leading
to dozens of deaths and more than
1,100 injured. We try to prevent
another massacre from taking place
and to expedite their resettlement in
third countries.
We also support Simaye Azadi, a
24-hour satellite channel whose
aim is to expose the suppressive
policies of the mullahs’ regime and
provide real news. And we try to
sway international public opinion in
favour of the Third Option for Iran
(no to war and no to appeasement
and yes to democratic change by the
Iranian people.)
Our activities involve holding rallies,
protests, meetings and conferences
to put pressure on the international
community and human rights
organisations to compel them to
take action.
Solidarity in the UK with Iran Liberty in support of
Ashraf and Liberty residents
Rowlandson House t 289-297 Ballards Lane t London N12 8NP W: www.iranliberty.org.uk t E: [email protected] t T: 020 8906 7739
Who are the residents of Ashraf and Liberty
The Iranian people’s resistance against the mullahs’ regime has continued for more
than 34 years. Despite the reign of terror there have always been freedom-lovers who
have not bowed before the mullahs’ regime. This Resistance became concentrated
in a place called Ashraf, in Iraq 40 miles from the Iranian border. Those who survived
the regime’s prisons and intellectuals who were being hunted down as well as their
relatives who were harassed went to this place to bring out the Iranian people’s voice
to the world from there.
Following the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, the U.S. took over the protection of Ashraf, but
when in 2009 this responsibility was passed over to the Iraqi government Baghdad
imposed a medical and logistical siege on the residents.
Mino, an Ashraf resident
who lost both her legs in the
bombardment of Ashraf
Mino, an Ashraf resident who lost both her legs in the bombardment of Camp Ashraf
says:
“As an Iranian woman, when I see that in my country many thousands, possibly millions,
are suffering from poverty and starvation and worse being deprived of the minimum
freedoms I know it as my duty to do everything in my capacity for them. Even if I lose
both my arms, I must not cease in the struggle to achieve freedom in my country for
even an instant.”
The Iranian regime, which wants to eliminate these people through its puppet
government in Iraq, brought about two attacks against them in 2009 and 2011. These
attacks were carried out by Iraqi forces which led to the death of 49 residents and more
than 1,100 injured. They killed the residents with direct gun fire, mowing people with
armoured vehicles and blows with clubs.
Following these attacks we joined an international campaign which led to the UN
Refugee Agency recognising the Ashraf residents as ‘asylum seekers’ and agreeing to
begin the process to confirm their legal status, but the Iraqi government conditioned
this to the transfer of the residents to another camp.
2009: massacre in Ashraf
They are currently in Camp Liberty, which is described by the UN Working Group on
Arbitrary Detention as a prison. The Iranian regime is focusing all its efforts on destroying
them.
2011: massacre in Ashraf
Part of Opinion
adopted by the
Working Group on
Arbitrary Detention
at its 63rd session
16. The conditions in Camp Liberty are synonymous with
those in a detention centre, as residents have no freedom
of movement, nor interaction with the outside world, nor
do they have freedom of movement and the semblance
of a free life within the Camp. The situation of the residents
of Camp Liberty is tantamount to that of detainees or
prisoners.
Human Rights Council
Working Group on
Arbitrary Detention
17. The Working Group considers that there is no legal
justification for holding the above-mentioned persons and
other individuals in Camp Liberty, and that such detention
is not in conformity with the standards and principles of
international human rights law, and more specifically
violates article 9 of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights and articles 9 and 10 of the International Covenant
on Civil and Political Rights.
Camp Liberty
Iran under the mullahs’ rule: Iran’s bleak record
120,000 dissidents executed
30,000 political prisoners massacred in a few months in
1988
Stonings
Executions in public
Execution of juveniles
174 forms of torture in prisons including lashing,
amputation of limbs, and eye gouging
EU appeals to Iran to stay activist’s execution
EU foreign policy chief Catherine
Ashton on Tuesday urged Iran
to stay the execution of activist
Gholamreza Khosravi Savadjani,
sentenced for allegedly supporting
the People’s Mujahedeen of Iran.
Iran: number 1 executioner per
capita
2012: At least one person executed per day
2011: More than 700 executions including 5
minors hanged and 61 public hangings
BRUSSELS, October 9, 2012 (AFP)
Iran demonstrators defy police as currency collapses
Riot police clashed with
protesters in Tehran yesterday
amid growing signs of panic
at Iran’s collapsing currency
as pressure from international
sanctions sent the rial plunging
to record lows this week.
Police fired teargas at stonethrowing demonstrators after
traders in the main bazaar closed
their shops and staged a protest
demanding government action
to halt economic meltdown.
Witnesses said that dozens were
arrested.
The scale of public anger, and
the regime’s draconian response,
suggested that Iran could be on
the verge of its worst civil unrest
since the protests that followed
the disputed 2009 presidential
election.
The Times, 4 October 2012
Threats of religious fascism ruling Iran
Export of fundamentalism, efforts to acquire nuclear weapons
Iran ‘could make nuclear bomb
within 10 months’
Iran sends elite troops to aid Bashar alAssad regime in Syria
Iran could produce enough weapons-grade uranium
to make an atom bomb within two to four months and
then would need an additional eight to 10 months to
build the device, experts said.
Iran is intensifying its support for the regime of Bashar
al-Assad by sending 150 senior Revolutionary Guards
commanders to Syria to help repel opposition attempts
to overthrow the government.
The Daily Telegraph, 9 October 2012
The Daily Telegraph, 6 September 2012
Dignitaries supporting
residents of Ashraf and Liberty
Archbishop
Desmond Tutu,
Archbishop
Emeritus of Cape
Town
Lord Alton of
Liverpool
The Archbishop of
Canterbury, Rowan
Williams
Lord Clarke, former
chairman of the
Labour Pary
Elie Wiesel
Holocaust survivor
and Nobel Peace
Prize laureate
Baroness Turner
Former Deputy
Speaker of the
House of Lords
Threat to Iranians in Camp Ashraf
We, along with the rest of the world, have watched
in horror over the past two years as the Iraqi armed
forces have entered Camp Ashraf and slaughtered
and maimed its unarmed residents, including many
women. Camp Liberty in its current form raises new
concerns over residents’ safety. Backing for these
residents comes from a broad spectrum, with crossparty support from both houses in parliament, the
church and the legal sector in the UK, the US and
Europe. We are waiting to see if the UN will stand
by the Camp Ashraf residents and protect their
internationally recognised rights, or merely watch the
Iraqi PM make a mockery of the UN and the principles
it stands for.
This letter was co-signed by 49 MPs, Peers, Bishops and
lawyers.
The Guardian, Letters, 23 February 2012
Iraq
min
Iraq must accept Camp Ashraf residents’
minimum guarantees for relocation [2012]
The Bar Human Rights Committee
(BHRC) of England and Wales
expresses deep concern at the
decision of the Iraqi government
to transform Camp Liberty, a
former US base in Baghdad, into a
temporary prison to house Camp
Ashraf residents. The residents of
Camp Ashraf are Iranian refugees,
all of whom have been recognised
as Protected Persons under the
Fourth Geneva Convention.
There must be permanent
and independent US and UN
monitoring at Camp Liberty as a
refugee camp with the UN flag;
Major conference in defence of Liberty residents in
London’s Queen Elizabeth II conference centre
The siege against the residents
must be halted, together with any
persecution and harassment of
them and their access to medical
services and the right to visitation
by their families and lawyers inside
Camp Liberty…
MPs: UN must protect Liberty residents
Iran Liberty’s British supporters demand UN protection for Liberty residents:
Protect 3400 freedom-loving
Iranians in Camp Ashraf and Liberty
in Iraq
Recognise Camp Liberty as a
refugee camp
Save the lives of these refugees
and resettle them in third countries